Farewell, Ol' Blue

We have been looking into buying a bigger car to replace our minivan. Before you say, "You're having your FOURTH baby, not your EIGHTH..." I want to say that I realize we can fit one, maybe even two more children into the van. The problem comes when we want to go somewhere. We can fit our family into the van, but if we are planning to spend more than one night anywhere, we can't fit all our bags, pack-n-play (soon to be pack-n-playS), entertainment for the road, food for the road, sleeping bags for the girls, etc etc. So my car-loving husband has been researching suburbans for a while and landed us a fantastic deal on Friday. Now, to sell our minivan...


My favorite things about this Mazda MPV:
1. Everyone knew our car - the color and model are not common.
2. The tint - are you kidding me? The back windows are LIMO dark! I love it.
3. The tidbits of the inside - controls on the steering wheel, the back bench folds down flat - all the way into the floor, the right side seat by the sliding door slides side to side, and the grey interior.
4. It has never broken down or needed anything replaced.
5. The road trips we have taken in it - Vegas to S. California, move from Vegas to Greeley, Greeley to Vegas and S. and N. California, many trips to Utah, trips trips trips!
6. We pretty much had our "family start" with this van and every time I look at it I think of Adah and Madelyn.
7. So many day-to-day routine memories like I remember driving home from the store when Adah was 23 months old and she was potty training and we chanted together "hold it, hold it, hold it!" all the way home and she made it to the potty!
8. I remember a teenage boy telling me what an awesome car it was, he had never seen a minivan look so cool.
9. The many trips I have nursed my babies in the "safety" of the dark tint.
10. Last thing I will list is how cool our "Y" trailor hitch cover looked with a BLUE car. It's just not the same on our new maroon Yukon.
This car has been very good to us and it will be sad to see it go. It was actually the first big thing Erik and I ever bought together. We bought it just before Madelyn was born. It's the only car she has ever known and in fact, she broke down in tears when we explained that we were going to be selling our "blue car." It is hard to see it go though, being the original owners, we have NEVER had a SINGLE problem with it! Erik is so on top of taking care of cars, so it has been treated right, but still....NEVER a problem? Yesterday Erik started trying to talk me into keeping it because of what it's worth. He said, "You can't find a car this reliable for this price!" I totally heard his point, and was tempted by his suggestion, but can't live with having 2 big cars. It's just too much. It's time to let go. So, goodbye ol' blue, goodbye! (well, goodbye soon, as soon as we sell ya...but we're really already done with her - she's all cleaned and ready to go - so we can't drive it and make it dirty!)